英文閱讀的方法

Vernique2005

上星期見了一個四年班的小朋友﹐她告訴我她喜歡讀英文故事書﹐我便笑著叫她介紹本書給我看看﹐令我非常驚喜的是﹐她竟然可以用英文說了十分鐘﹐不停地告訴我故事裡發生的事。

這可以算是一個讀英文讀得非常成功的例子嗎﹖可以說是﹐也可以說不是。令我非常開心的﹐是那女孩有那種跟人分享知識的喜悅﹐但同一時間﹐女孩還沒有真正領會到什麼叫閱讀。

個人認為﹐一個盡責的讀者﹐不是只看完故事就可以的。讀書的時候﹐有沒有留意作者的用詞﹖比如說﹐故事裡到底有多少個字是形容說話的﹖ 孩子可以列出多少個﹖
我問了她這個問題﹐她只能答我
said, talked, asked
但同一本書裡﹐我們可以找到﹕
commented, screamed, implied, suggested, questioned, yelled﹐demanded.......

從這可以見到﹐儘管那女孩說她已經看完整套書﹐她沒有把書消化﹐也沒有把書裡的字加以運用。這樣﹐她並不會感受到書裡的氣氛﹐也不會把懂得的字用在寫作上。

在來就是書裡形容地方的句子﹐我發現她還有把這類的句子隨便跳過就算﹐因為她覺得那些形容根本影響不了故事的情節。。。。記住﹐那只是她自己覺得而已﹐並不代表作家本身的立場﹐也不代表這樣便可以培養好閱讀的能力。

Hm....到底問題出在哪裡﹖我們現在有一個聰明﹐也有興趣去看書的小孩在前面﹐但她看了這麼多﹐為什麼對故事了解的這麼少﹖

那她的閱讀習慣和我在加拿大的學生比較﹐我發現幾點﹕
1)她從來沒有做過文章分析。不要以為文章分析就一定會令孩子失去閱讀的興趣(這是最常聽﹐也最違背文學教育的意見 ) 孩子不能用英文去寫報告﹐你叫他畫圖畫都可以。問他能不能畫出故事的背景﹐看看書裡有沒有給你提示﹐從這可以訓練他們留意微細的地方。

2)可以叫她寫一段感想﹐她最喜歡的部份是什麼﹖為什麼﹖叫她解析一下插圖的用處﹖故事結尾有沒有其他可能性﹖

3) 可以分析一下人物嗎﹖我們怎樣去介紹一個人﹖從他的外表﹐他的行為﹐他的性格﹐人家對他的評價﹐我們可以知道多少﹖ 作者全都有告訴我們嗎﹖還是他故意留一下給我們猜﹖

很多小朋友讀英文書﹐最大的目標是學好英文﹐我也不反對這個目標。但原來我們竟然有孩子很快已經達到這個目標了﹐那之後怎辦﹖當你發現孩子在看了某一個數目的書而又開始沒什麼挑戰性的時候﹐你就要改變閱讀的方向了﹐可以試試以下幾點﹕

1) 轉換不用的書﹐不要看死一個系列的﹐太遲的話﹐有些孩子就會除了自己喜歡的一種書後﹐什麼都不願意看了。

2) 換不同類型的GENRES﹐ 看故事﹐看散文﹐看詩歌﹐看自傳﹐看古典文學﹐看不同歷史背景的故事

3)鼓勵他們去了解一個故事的CONSTRUCTION﹐ 一個好的作家會小心到每個字都要依著他的意思﹐一個好的讀者要懂得欣賞作者那份執著﹐那份熱誠﹐而不是看了故事就算。

哈哈﹗因為自己是讀文學的﹐常常都希望可以有多些小朋友對文學有興趣﹐但其實我剛剛說的也不全是從文學角度出發的﹐畢竟﹐一個讀得好書的孩子﹐一個成功的人士﹐一定要懂得分析﹐也一定要夠細心。

如果你們眼前的孩子和我見過的那位一樣﹐那大家就努力罷﹐不要浪費了他。

Yukyuk

Vernique,

我囡囡今年p.2, 在學校要讀reader (PENGUIN Young readers - Level 3, ) , 現在讀緊 SNOW WHITE , CLASSICS Version, British English.  

1)  我在家試過用英語話劇型式, 演繹出教過的內容, 好深刻又攪笑!  (攪笑是因為我家的成員好有表演慾, 會隨手拿d日用品作道具, 再用誇張口語, 想起都覺得好笑!)

Thanks for sharing!  



Yukyuk[quote]

csk

Vernique2005

多謝你的分享，我覺得很有用。

ptsamm

Very good advice!

The problem you identified is not only for the children but also for ourselves (myself). Remember what our school teacher said in the first english reading class in Form 1.
"Don't bother with the words you don't know, just know the meaning of the story is enough."

now...after n years this kind of training, i can read books, news but with very weak vocab foundation. so i start to query is this really a good method to learn english?  

lulu4466

Vernique2005

當頭棒喝!!!
謝謝你.

lulu4466

8Gu

Vernique,
Thanks for your sharing.

8gu

twokidsmum

Vernique2005

非常感謝你給我明燈指引!  

twokidsmum

toffeeli

我記得當年我上到高中選修"英國文學"時，那外藉老師先至係咁教我哋，真有點遲!

TATNET

Yes and No.

I agree that one should read with depth and attend to details to read the mind of a (good) writer - a writer that cares for each and every words he/she uses; a write who has a 'message' to deliver.   The question is do we have the time to read and digest the volumous amount of reading material?  Are all book worthly of such reading concentration?  How to choose the right book?  How to time-manage?  

I disagree that one should read 'every book' with depth.  That is when the technique of speed reading come to play.  Read fast with a certain degree of comprehension might serve the purpose.

For 10 year old kid, I tend to think that reading fast with a certain degree of comprehension will be adequate.  Reading with too much concentration/ attention to detail might deter his/her interest in reading - but I'm not 100% sure.  That might be a dilema.






  

sosomom

TATNET
我同意你的說法, 我小朋友從小很喜歡英文, 因此他喜歡閱讀英文書, 見到同英文有關的字都會問, 如路牌, 招牌,menu, lift果d字等等... 但開始時佢只喜歡讀, 好多都唔識解, 但因為佢讀得多, 而家小一, 真係好多字都識讀, 亦因為識讀, 所以慢慢都識解, 而家我買小三或小四的閱讀里解篇, 佢都全部明晒, 識做, 當然d grammer 就唔多識.
以我的意見, 小朋友細細個閱讀, 唔雖要太深入, 只要多d閱讀, d字不斷重覆出現, 生字自然識多咗, 其他grammer或其麼閱讀技巧留比學校教, 或等大個d先.
如果唔係你講得太長細, 佢會無耐性及興趣

Vernique2005

toffeeli 寫道:
我記得當年我上到高中選修"英國文學"時，那外藉老師先至係咁教我哋，真有點遲!

哈哈﹗我也很期待將來我們可以追快一點﹐如果在香港土生土長的小朋友都可以和外國的小朋友一樣有不錯的文學教育就好了﹗有時候﹐可能這不是孩子能力的問題﹐而是我們根本沒有讓孩子去試﹐像你給得例子﹐到了高中才學的話﹐有很多小朋友才有的心情都會失去了。

有次我叫一個男孩子做句子﹐他竟然說﹕
Angus is a pretty boy who eats and drinks all day long.
哈哈哈﹐沒想過他會這樣形容自己﹗

又有一個孩子寫了這一句﹕
I can be a cloud in the sky but no bird can bite me...
她的創意﹐她的童真﹐是我這些年紀大了的人已經不會有的了﹐ 就算真的要我寫﹐我寫出來的心境都不同了。。。

"I can be an electric eel and shock any sea animal that comes close to me!" hhahahah!  

Vernique2005

Dear TATNET:

I guess we can certainly have an idealistic approach and a  practical one to English reading~!  You definitely raised a good point here.  Without a fast reading speed, reading with details can actually be painful to many students.

However, my optimistic view urges me to believe that one will eventually be a fast reader through experience, and that focusing on details will only stimulate interests, but not hindering them~!    Yet you are right in saying that this is exactly the moment where dilemma arises.  To engage a child in reading carefully, a teacher needs so many different elements: 1) a suitable text to begin with, 2) an appropriate way of presentation, and 3) a close attention to the students' responses.  If any one of these elements is not nicely handled, reading can again be miserable.  (I hope this is also relevant to other subject areas like maths or science; otherwise, we'll have fewer and fewer people in the arts!  )

If time management is a problem, I'd actually suggest readers to read less and focus instead of reading a long  one hastily.  In my opinion, reading is analogous to travelling.  I'd rather have a 5-day trip in Europe that really stimulates me all the way through than to have a 3-week trip that doesn't show me much.

I guess we'll naturally know when we've reached the students' border line in terms of textual analysis.  Before that, it's still our responsibility to widen the students' perspectives.  The girl whom I was referring to is a fast and proficient reader already.  That's why I hope that she can enrich her reading experience through focusing on detail.    

qio

For reading, I think you can search many help...for example, pictures,dictionary, similar words......but the really difficult point is --------WRITNG! No matter I studied in primary or secondary level, I had never learnt any ways/methods that I can assure to improve my writing skills. The teachers only gave me a model  and ask the students to copy it in the same style.

TiffanysDaddy

Thanks you sharing, Vernique2005.

I got one method about english reading from Singtao.

家庭與學校合作事宜委員會上月換新班子，新主席是香港中文大學訊息工程系教授黃寶財。Elsie與黃教授相識多年，他早年是香港教育城的策劃人，現在是香港學校網絡的總舵手，新官上任當然滿腦鴻圖大計，Elsie最近特別約黃教授茶

wideworld

Hi Vernique,
Very nice to read your message on BK especially on the english aspect.  

mattsmum

I finally find a book teaching reading: "the reading essentials"- chinese version.

good to see how reading is being taught in western culture,

TATNET

Dear  Vernique,

Thanks for your response.  I'm with you.  
  
Vernique2005 寫道:
Dear TATNET:

I guess we can certainly have an idealistic approach and a  practical one to English reading~!  You definitely raised a good point here.  Without a fast reading speed, reading with details can actually be painful to many students.

...............

I guess we'll naturally know when we've reached the students' border line in terms of textual analysis.  Before that, it's still our responsibility to widen the students' perspectives.  

(Totally Agreed that it is parent's responsibility.)

The girl whom I was referring to is a fast and proficient reader already.  That's why I hope that she can enrich her reading experience through focusing on detail.

(My current problems are how to choose and where to find that wide and suitable spectrum of books for my kid?  She is 7.  Finding a right english teacher/tutor may be the key!! )

Vernique2005

mattsmum 寫道:
I finally find a book teaching reading: "the reading essentials"- chinese version.

good to see how reading is being taught in western culture,

The one that I have is "Classroom Strategies for Interactive Learning". (This is a teacher reference.)

http://www.accessola2.com/market/pdf/Content%20Area%20Learning(p31).pdf

song

Thanks for posting the reading techniques here that are so helpful. Last time, you have introduced some nice story books for me already. My girl's school encourages them to read stroy books daily. BUT the problem is it is still hard to buy some nice story books printed in USA unless we ordered from amazon.com that costs us expensive postage.     

HuiTung

Book is just one of the media.  Apart from reading different genres, a child should read other media such as magazines, newspaper or even the description on a cereal box     , to develop a lively English.  Book reviews are also good for one to develope an analytical and critical mind.